Saturday, September 04, 2010

Film fans of the world - it's going to get grim and a little funky today.

Usually a movie set in Cuba is a spy-filled moral quagmire, but Argentina-born director Alejandro Brugues has another vision. It's a Cuba overrun by flesh 'n brain eating zombies and the one man who wages his own revolution to reclaim the island nation and preserve it.

The movie aims for comedy, not just horror, right off the mark with the title of the movie now in production "Juan of the Dead" (aka "Juan de los Muertos"). Hipsters have been calling the growth of comedy and zombie blends Zomedy or as I prefer, the Zom-com.

24FramesPerSecond has the details and a few teaser trailers focusing on the film's titular hero, a red-converse-sneakered slacker named Juan who decides to make the horror of the relentless walking dead into a new way to earn a living:

"One day Havana begins to fill with zombies. Juan decides that the best way to cope with it is to prosper. "Juan of the dead, kills your loved ones" is his slogan, and its mission is to help people get rid of those infected around them ... for a price. But the situation gets worse, and while everyone is out to sea to get away, John is left with no choice but to become a hero, staying to defend their country and protect their home from turning into a real bloodbath." One trailer is below and here is the film's website (note: it's not in English).

And if you have a tough time remembering or learning about the zombie movies you want to see, be sure and check out this Zombie Movie Database.

A very funky home for all things superbad and superfly has been made by a college professor, but you can call her Sista ToFunky. She's taken her passion for funky films and funky style to the Internet with The Museum of Uncut Funk.

It's a celebration of the Golden Age of Funk - aka, the 1970s - and hosts a stunningly large collection of movie poster art, comics, broadway shows, funky music, funky history, and much, much more.

Ohhhhh, yeah. It's International and Intergalactic, baby.

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Actor Bruce Campbell never expected his role as the witless and luckless Ash from the "Evil Dead" movies would make him an icon.

"I've met a lot of fathers and their sons who bonded through those movies -- they didn't get along but that those movies were they only thing they liked together. I think it's because Ash is just a regular guy. He's not special forces, he's not Clint Eastwood, he's not a squinty CIA, ex-Navy Seal. He's nothing. He's just a guy. He's a garage mechanic. He's not even that. He works in the housewares department. I think the average audience member goes, "Hey, he's me! Look at him make that stupid mistake, what an idiot!" Because an average guy would make horrible mistakes."

Thursday, September 02, 2010

The Morristown/Hamblen County chapter of Citizens for Accountability is hosting a candidate debate Sept. 30th in Morristown. (via)

"The first debate will be between State Representative candidates Don Miller (R) and Larry Mullins (D). The second debate will feature State Senate candidates Senator Steve Southerland (R) and challenger Jack West (D).

The debates will take place in the Community Room at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 5266 located at 2503 East Andrew Johnson Highway in Morristown, TN. Attendance is free and open to the public.

The debate for State Representative for Tennessee’s 10th district will begin at 6:00 PM on September 30th. Republican nominee Don Miller and Democrat nominee Larry Mullins will each give an opening statement before fielding questions from the debate moderator. AtCit the conclusion of the debate, each candidate will give a closing statement. Questions will be chosen from those submitted to Citizens for Accountability by the public.

Following a short break, the State Senate candidates will take the stage at approximately 7:15 PM. State Senator Steve Southerland, Republican, is seeking re-election to Tennessee’s 1st district which encompasses Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and Unicoi Counties. He is being challenged by Jack West, Democrat. The Senate candidates will give an opening statement, field questions from the debate moderator, and give a closing statement.

Residents of Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and Unicoi Counties may submit debate questions by e-mailing questions to Citizens for Accountability morristownhamblencfa@gmail.com or mailing questions to Debate Questions, P.O. Box 165, Morristown, TN 37815. All submissions are confidential, and selected questions will not be available to the candidates or to the public until the debate."

"Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials.

Neither the state nor the oil company informed neighbors or local officials about the pollutants until two weeks after the release ended, and angry residents of Texas City have signed up in droves to join a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against BP. The state attorney general, Greg Abbott, has also sued the company, seeking fines of about $600,000."